EC tenders for €1m CCS network

The European Commission (EC) launched a tender over the weekend for the establishment and operation of an information-sharing network to link up Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration projects.

The EC wants to stimulate the construction and operation of a set of CCS demonstration projects by 2015, and views technical collaboration as vital to progress.

The selected contractor will assist the commission in ensuring that the network – for which the budget is some €1m (£800m) a year – to allow power companies to exchange information and experience from large-scale industrial demonstration of the use of CCS technologies.

In a statement the EC said: "It is foreseen that, as the network evolves, its integrating role may be complemented by other measures that support the further development of CCS technologies."

This would include the setting up of research centres and increased collaboration on that research.

The contract notice said: "The successful bidder shall assist the commission in establishing and running the CCS project network by complementing general commission capacities through the provisions of specialised technical expertise and by organising events, monitoring participating projects using proprietary methodology and running specific actions to support CCS demonstration."

The International Energy Agency estimates that the use of CCS could account for 20 per cent of the achievable global greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2050.

Last week saw the first CCS demonstration plant switched on at the Schwarze Pumpe power plant in Germany.